In our description of the villus we mention the two kinds of vessels, blood capillaries and lymph radical, representing the two portions of the circulatory system. All absorbed food is taken into one or the other of these systems of tubes. Practically all of the fat passes into the lymphatic system. Its presence in the smaller lymphatics of the mesentery in the condition of fine globules gives to these lymphatics a white milky appearance. For that reason they have from the earliest time been called lacteals. Nearly all of the proteins and the sugars are absorbed into the capillaries of the villus, whence they pass into the mesenteric veins, which empty into the portal vein. This vein, as you know, passes into the liver, where the sugars, at least, are immediately subjected to the action of the liver cells and are chemically changed, as will be described in the next chapter. While a vastly greater portion of the proteins pass into the venous system, a small portion at least passes into the lymphatics. This conclusion is based upon a series of observations made by the author on chyle collected in the peritoneal cavity from a ruptured receptaculum chyli. These observations extended over a period of about four weeks, during which period radical changes were made in the diet every four days, the diet of one period being meager in fats and average in proteins and carbohydrates; of the next period, rich in fats, average in proteins and carbohydrates; of the next period, meager in fats and proteins and rich in carbohydrates; and the next, rich in fats and proteins, average in carbohydrates; and thus throughout the four weeks' period. During this time there were two periods rich in proteins and two periods meager in proteins, the others being average. The two periods rich in proteins showed a noticeably large percentage of proteins in the chyle, while the periods poor in proteins showed a smaller percentage. From this series of observations the author feels justified in concluding that at least a small proportion of proteins is absorbed by way of the lacteals.